Madison - Three days after suffering a strained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, Wisconsin offensive tackle Rob Havenstein was back on the field for a test run Tuesday.

The redshirt junior worked only on the sideline with the trainers and didn't participate in any team drills.

So the obvious question:

Will Havenstein be ready to return to right tackle Saturday when UW (7-4, 4-3 Big Ten Conference) closes the regular-season schedule at Penn State (7-4, 5-2)?

"It's probably too early to tell," said Havenstein, who has started all 11 games. "I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow or the next day.

"It feels pretty good, but I've just got to get the stability back. It will probably be a game-time decision.

"I was out there running around and then I went in and did some good conditioning work so I'm not sitting around getting fat."

Offensive line coach Bart Miller was encouraged to see Havenstein running around and working on his pass sets without discomfort, but remained cautious.

"He looked pretty good," Miller said. "We're pretty optimistic. But we'll see how it responds tomorrow after a day of running around on it."

If Havenstein doesn't feel confident enough to play against the Nittany Lions, fifth-senior Robert Burge is in line to start.

Burge filled in at right tackle after Havenstein suffered the injury late in the first half in UW's overtime loss to Ohio State.

According to Miller, Burge got a significant amount of work at left guard last week. The staff wanted to make sure he would be ready to play on the inside if left tackle Rick Wagner experienced issues with his left knee.

Wagner suffered a more severe strained MCL on Oct. 13 at Purdue and missed two games. If Wagner's knee flared up against Ohio State, left guard Ryan Groy was prepared to shift to tackle and Burge would have come in at guard.

"To his credit, he came in and played fairly well," Miller said of Burge. "In one half he had 12 knockdowns.

"He made some mistakes. He got beat a couple times physically. In pass protection we tried to help him out a little bit.

"I was pleased with effort that he gave. Just like everybody else he had some things he messed up that he's got to continue to improve on.

"At the end I felt like we could have run the game with him in there."

The UW training staff did a quick tape job on Havenstein's knee during the halftime break with the hope he would be able to play in the second half.

Havenstein's mind was willing but his knee didn't cooperate.

"A couple things felt good but it was just my pass set that wasn't good," he said. "I tried it out there and I almost fell over.

"I just didn't have anything, and I decided I'd probably be a detriment to the team."

UW's tackles will be tested by Penn State's ends.

Deion Barnes, a 6-foot-4, 246-pound sophomore, leads the team in sacks (six) and tackles for loss (10) and is tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (three).

Sean Stanley, a 6-1, 243-pound senior, has three sacks and eight tackles for loss.

"They've got a really good group of ends," Havenstein said.

Although his status for the game likely won't be determined until Saturday, Havenstein has been going over video since Sunday.

"I'm still treating this like I'm going to play," he said. "You've got to do that."

Even with the loss of Havenstein for one half against the Buckeyes, UW rushed for 206 yards. Ohio State entered the day allowing 107.9 rushing yards per game, the No. 2 mark in the Big Ten.

Penn State allows 127.5 rushing yards per game, the No. 5 mark in the league.

"I thought we challenged these guys all week," Miller said, "and they rose to the occasion and probably played their best game in the run game all year."

Miller anticipates a similar effort will be needed this week.

"I think every week we will need an effort like that," he said. "Because if we play like that, we'll be very, very hard to beat up front."